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The first concrete pillars have been installed.

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The first concrete pillars have been installed to support the controversial sky rail bridges along Melbourne’s busiest train corridor.

Two 6.7 metre columns were lowered into place overnight by a 350-tonne mobile crane near Murrumbeena station on the Cranbourne-Pakenham line.

But vandals have already tried to break into the construction site to tag the new structure, which Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan slammed as “stupid, risky, unsafe behaviour”.

Workers will install 352 pillars over the coming months, (hopefully plenty of work for our Franna) placed 40 metres apart from each other to support elevated bridge beams, the first of which will be installed after Easter.

The elevated rail bridges will see the removal of nine level crossings in Melbourne by the end of next year as part of the $1.6 billion project, which also includes the construction of five new train stations.

“These dangerous and congested level crossings just have to go,” Ms Allan said.

She said it was a “unique project” but that the pillars looked like the design and modelling work which was released to the public last year.

Despite anger about the design within the local community, Ms Allan said she was confident the “overwhelming majority of people want these level crossing gone”.

She said security was in place along the construction corridor to stop people trying to graffiti the new structures.

“There are security arrangements on site to address and prevent these sorts of things happening,” Ms Allan said.

“It’s just a stupid act to try and get into a construction site that’s operating right next to a live rail environment.” More than 1000 people are already working on the project, with up to 2000 workers expected to be employed when it hits the peak construction period.

(Tom.minear@news.com.au @tminear)

Updated 31 March 2017, Originally published as "Melbourne’s sky rail starts to rise"